Merck & Co. Chief Executive Officer Raymond Gilmartin said Monday his first indication that the painkiller Vioxx carried a heart risk came on Sept. 23, and the company withdrew the medicine a week later.

Merck has begun "offering explanations" for internal documents that allegedly indicated the company was aware of the safety risks of the CQX-2 inhibitor Vioxx years before the voluntary withdrawal of the medication in late September, the Wall Street Journal reports (Martinez, Wall Street J…

Attorney Andy Birchfield Jr. is directing litigation against Merck &Co. by people who alleged that the painkiller caused heart attacks or strokes.

In what is becoming a growing trend in health care litigation, uninsured patients are suing Brentwood-based Community Health Systems Inc. (CHS).

Attorneys involved in Vioxx litigation predict that all federal cases will be consolidated and transferred to a single venue soon after the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation meets in January.

Merck & Co. Chief Executive Officer Raymond Gilmartin said his first indication

Attorney Andy Birchfield Jr. is directing litigation against Merck & Co. by people who alleged that the painkiller caused heart attacks or strokes.

Merck & Co. Chief Executive Officer Raymond Gilmartin said his first indication that the painkiller Vioxx carried a heart risk came on Sept. 23, 2004 and the company withdrew the medicine a week later.

Attorneys involved in Vioxx litigation predict that all federal cases will be consolidated and transferred to a single venue soon after the Judicial Panel on Multi-district Litigation meet.

In May 2000, executives at Merck, the pharmaceutical giant under siege for its handling of the multibillion-dollar drug Vioxx, made a fateful decision.